I have been advised by an official source close to the team that Georgia was in fact competing on an injured foot and lower back, and is to be commended for completing the competition under the circumstances. Our thoughts go with her for a speedy recovery!

Bad form and very sluggish. She is going to have to work on her polish and grace for next year I think or she just wont get the execution scores she needs to get in ahead of Nikki Chung. Georgia Rose is now above them both in the pecking order in my opinion.

Larrissa only seems to be able to do one event, Georgia Rose and Mary-Anne are both too poor on vault to be taken seriously internationally, Wheeler has not developed into the stalwart many hoped nor has she upgraded, Brennan is looking sloppier going by the Massilia vids. There is just not the clean gymnastics we are used to seeing. All our artistic athletes are injured or have low difficulty.

It could be that Chloe Sims, Georgia Bonora, and Angela Donald are our only hopes in addition to Lauren, especially if Lorenzin doesn't get better. In future we really need to work towards a team scenario where more than a single athlete has a chance at an event final.

I can't believe we were watching the same videos! I thought she looked sharp. I love her connections on floor - very sharp. She was a little short on her floor dismount so maybe not at full fitness yet but all her other tumbles were landed well with plenty left in the tank. A little short on a couple of handstands on bars but nailed her dismount. What are you seeing that I'm missing? Having said all that I would be over the moon if Nikki makes the team and WAIS have a habit of peaking girls just at the right time so I wouldn't be surprised if she is awesome instead of just in the mix by nationals next year. Nikki also spends very little time injured so this might work in her favour.

Not as any kind of excuse but rather an observation, I have to say the Massilia floor mat looked a bit of an issue. Everyone but Ash seemed to really struggle with landings on it. There was a significant number of over rotated tumbles, and the landings seem so thuddy.

Did you see Mary-Anne's form on the 2.5? The fact she opened with a double tuck? The flexed feet on every flic? The lack of amplitude on bars, the form breaks in handstand and muscled cast handstands? The hugely deductible pak? We know she is capable of way better, or at least was, and I hope she will be able to get back to that level again. We need to stop assuming that staying on the apparatus counts as a hit or strong performance, because it doesn't.

Does anyone know why GA is no longer using Stacey Umeh to choreograph the national team floor routines? Apparently many of the girls stayed on after Massilia Cup as Peggy is getting Adriana to do them now?I thought Stacey did a good job of them. Lauren did win Worlds 2010 with a Stacey Umeh routine!!!

That's ok Mez I don't think anyone minds the occasional typo you do such a great job.The results looked fairly encouraging Georgia -Rose did quite well considering her injuries, I though she might have scored a little higher of bars but overall it was pretty good. Mary-Anne scored third highest on beam and looked to score okay on vault and bars. Given her ankle problems floor was probably ok too.

All the girls have had a long campaign includongGRB. She did well on bars at Massilia and her injury may have affected her in Tokyo. ashleigh andLarrissa did reasonably well on floor at the worlds. The girls are doing the best they can, they qualified a full team to London. They are doing well.

They are not improving though, they are deteriorating. Larrissa was best in 2009 and Brennan in 2008. They are not upgrading and pushing themselves like the veterans from other countries. Chusovitina, Kim Bui, Beth Tweddle, Catalina Ponor, Sandra Izbasa, Ksenia Afanasyeva, Koko Tsurumi all competed in Beijing or earlier and are still coming up with new skills and programs. Our veterans just seem stagnant and resting on their laurels because all the newbies are too injured to contend and push them.

I see your point, Lauren seems to be the only one that keeps upgrading. I think Ashleigh has been more consistent this year than last year when she came back. She seems to be close to getting her Tsuk 1.5 in competition however I would like to see a bit of an upgrade on beam and floor. In saying that she has a 6 on beam and a 5.5 on floor which is the second best behind Lauren on those apparatus' I will admit I though Larrissa would have improved more. But it is not just the veterans. Emily vaults well but she hasn't upgraded on anything else and I though she is capable of higher start values on bars, beam and floor. I know she was injured earlier this year but I thought she could have at least upgraded bars. I don't want to be critical but I think the girls might actually be selling themselves short by not attempting upgrades. Anyway I really hope Australia does not have as many injuries next year and they can send their strongest team to London. I am sure they will do us proud.

we need more coaches, more athletes and less injuries. it is hard for the girls to stay in top form when there is little competitive motivation. we do not have the numbers of athletes as we choose to siphon out most to nationals. having more competiion for our seniors in Australia would help to keep them sharp. Look at national clubs, so few girls! IDP 8, 10, junior and senior combined would be equivalent to a meet between two clubs in most high achieving countries. coaches show no interest in lower level girls if they are injured plus expenses will hardly get parents and girls cheering ' oh, look! Another injury, another surgery, oh well, no support from coach? It does not matter! not many people accept this, so we must really support our athletes!!!!!! Also, some earlier posts in the year have mentioned safety and ratios within gyms. other than institutes we do not have many clubs that can support or serve so many girls as some try to and girls get poor training and have inrease chance for the injuries to happen. should there not be a mandatory ratio limit at some point in IDP? I hope we pull together well for 2012 and all girls please stay fit and healthy!

Yes, it should not only be Lauren upgrading. It is weird that it is, and really a killjoy. I realise their are low coaches and injuries and whatnot, but there are in other countreis too. Look at Romania, we have more seniors than them. But they push that core group of girls to keep upgrading and are not afraid to take risks.

Case in point- Between 06 and 08, Joura's UB a-score hovered around the same 6.2/6.3 mark. Nistor was at the same area in 2006, but by 2008, she had managed to get her a-score up to 7.0. You cant tell me that in those 2 years, which were relatively injury free for Dasha, that there was a lack of talent or possibilities in terms of upgrading that routine.

It is a fundamental difference in attitude, and there is just a generally non risk-taking attitude here that does not serve us well. It seems Peggy still has not learned that unless you are from one of the top 4 countries, you're simply not going to get the e-scores you deserve, and thus, it is far more production to build scores through difficulty. She needs to pull her finger out and start emphasising that it is not good enough to go a whole quad without any upgrading.

If we hear about someone training a DTY here, we will probably never see it due to never wanting to risk anything. Peggy will be telling herself that a nice FTY can rival it. But if we hear about someone from Romania training a DTY you can guarantee they will be busting it out when it counts. And you bet that their bad DTYs outscore our nice FTYs. And that's the fundamental difference between us and them. They understand the code.

There is so little innovation in this sport these days and seeing the same skills (and on that note, the same inbuilt deductions) in routines year after year is very frustrating.

I can assure you that it is NOT Peggy who is holding these gymnasts back. I know she has given skills for the Russian coaches to teach and they refuse. All the excuses are used. The gymnasts themselves have to accept some of the responsibility, they have to want to put the higher level of difficulty in the routines, soon enough to have them be stable.

What is the gymnast to coach ratio above? Is it different for 6,8,10, Jr. and Sr.? How different is it? Skill transferral, trust and gymnast feeling safe to try to push through higher degrees of difficulty are important, no?

It comes back to the coaches, Peggy isn't in the gym everyday with the gymnasts. The coaches pick who they want to move forward and upgrade, while other just as talented gymnast get left behind as they aren't the favored ones. Peggy needs to make sure the elite numbers increase and not decrease.. The needs to be some accountability on the coaches like the other countries. These girls can only do what they are taught, so they can nly be as good as their coaches capabilities. Do we need more coaches? Yes and our coaches need to coach all gymnast the same.The difficulty issue has caused this discrepancy to be more see through. Some gymnasts are encouraged to increase their difficulty, by being given new skills while other have lower difficulties and not given the opportunities to increase their star value. This allows coaches to push forward some girls and not others. All our gymnast are capable to upgrade they just need to be given the upgrades and time to master the skills. If we had more girls this would happen as it would not be the same girls traveling all the time as we could have multiple teams traveling and then Peggy could consolidate the best girls for the Olympics..Come on let's give the girls all the encouragement and skills they need.

But maybe the coaches, who spend more time with the girls than their parents probably do, therefore know them pretty darn well, can see that the particular gymnast isnt ready/capable of all the upgrades you fans so desperately want to see? Nobody probably knows a gymnast better than their coach, and they know what their gymnast is capable of, so I think we should trust the coaches and their knowledge of the athlete.

Also, perhaps some girls have reached the level they want to be at and prefer to stay there, not that they're being ignored by their coach in favour of girls who have huge Olympic dreams and are very close to realising that dream.

The idea that all girls should be coached equally and taught the same skills is absurd and doesn't happen in any successful program or country. Hard to take if you are a parent of a talented but not outstanding gymnast - but true all the same. Those girls who are coached less intensively can still get there though if it is what they really want but resources have to be given most to those with the most potential to develop quickly.

You have all missed the point. Peggy has been doing this job too long. There needs to be a changing of the guard. She is too used to getting her own way, things need to change for the betterment of gymnastics in Australia!!!

There needs to be some changes through tout the whole of the gymnastics program. Some programs get attacked by bossy parents who are extremely demanding but what is worse the programs allow the parents to win. This sport is about the gymnasts. Not who's parent shouts the loudest. There needs to be some changes so we can retain more elite gymnasts. All gymnasts get injured they should be well managed not pushed to the side, equal time should be given to all. The parents pay for this sport and their daughters are entitled to the same treatment. Also these coaches do not know the girls better than their parents and if parent thinks that they need to talk and listen to their daughters.

I agree with 9:11. Some coaches give in to Bossy parents and a BFF situation btwn a coach and parent is NOT acceptable!! When their girl gets all of the attention it is obvious why and it is not because they are the most talented. Coaches, being human, can fall for suck ups and coaches should not be a best friend with ANY parent at the gym. Not a good situation for gymnasts, coach or other parents! Also, qualified coach ratio is a real worry at some gyms. Why bag Peggy? let's see how girls go next year.

Nether have I. My experience has been gymnasts being treated fairly despite their parents. By the way, by fair I don't mean equal. Their is no doubt though that obnoxious parents of extremely talented children are tolerated more than those with less talented kids. Another observation (anecdotally - I don't know every parent in the country) is that our most successful gymnasts come from balanced and reasonable families. The high pressure gym mum approach might work well in the lower levels but by the time they get to IDP 10 a supportive but not overly involved family is an essential ingredient in the formula for success.

To 8:51Wow, you are so out of the loop. Peggy is very far from getting what she wants. She wants the best for Aussie elite gymnasts, you have no idea how much she does for the programs. We would really be in the shit if she left, nobody would put in as much in as Peggy does, if we left it to the HPC coaches we would not be going to the Olympics, they don't want to work that hard. It is Peggy that is pushing them, but yet she has to take the heat when Australia does not win a medal. You saw the pathetic performances in Perth at Nationals, those girls were not prepared to perform. Only when they get in a camp situation, can they pull together, it is a pattern if you go back an look at the years past.

1:51amI can't think of anything more stupid that stupid people making comments about gymnast's routines that they know nothing about.Maryanne could not do the straddle Schuschunova, or else it would have been in her routine. The only way she could train and perform consistently and successfully is to pike it. The pike only was rewarded a D. so get over it.

MAM was looking like she might be very useful on bars a while back because it is true her routine is very upgradeable. However, looking at her at Massilia and Worlds, it doesn't really seem like she will be much use there next year. At worlds she only managed 7.150 e-score with no falls performing a routine worth 5.4.